Hoppy Feet 1.5Clown Shoes

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A - poured a pitch black into a snifter with one finger tan creamy head, head was a varied creamy and large bubble texture. Looked lively throughout but not much for lacing.

S - nose is a hop forward, citrus, pine, and earthiness followed by a punch of alcohol rounded out with roasted malt goodness including notes of smoke, coffee, chocolate, a slight molasses or toffee sweetness.

T - really intense taste, the hoppiness is very forward and not by any means muddled by the porter-esque malts. It's is totally accentuated by them. The intense resinous pine and floral notes of the hops mash right up with the dark chocolate roasted malt smokiness, ending with a quenching bitterness that lingers. I would say this is the best tasting black IIPA I have experienced on my beer journey thus far.

O - this is great. Sometimes with these big black IPAs I find the hop flavors muddled in the background and can't really differ them from a really hoppy imperial porter. This is a straight mash up of bright IPA hop flavor and IBUs with delicious roasted malts. The nose was a little pungent with the alcohol but the taste was more smooth, a little hot though. Great beer, will continue to enjoy more.

I thought this beer was pretty good but not a good representation of the style due to it's highly roasted malt taste. Looks desent sitting in my glass with a smaller dense head.
Aroma is not bad either but it's mosrly malts. There is very little to no hop notes that I can detect. It's malt with a chocolate milkshake aroma and that smells pretty good.
Taste is good and robust with rich roasted malts but thats it. It mind as well be a porter or stout. The hop flavor is absent and the only thing I can detect with the hops is the fair amount of bitterness around the edges.
A fair beer thats pretty decent all in all but misses the mark a bit.

On tap at the Oak Cafe. Deep, dark, woody brown, but not quite deep enough to elude all color and be deemed truly black. Ruby highlights are revealed when held up to the light. The head fades quick and has a hue somewhere between khaki and tan. The collar that's left behind leaves a few spots of generous lacing as it makes its decent atop the beer.

Robust aroma, no doubt; the initial whiff opens up a roasted malt and cocoa powder canvas with citric hops thrown about. Mildly herbal, ashy, and with a bitter hint of white pepper covered grapefruit peels. I'm getting just a touch of black licorice in the end, as well, though the malt bill still leans more towards a roasty and chocolatey aroma profile - good news for me.

The first sip is pretty ashy and nearly charred, both from a one-two combo of the deeply roasted malts and the mildly abrasive hop bitterness. Leaves, citrus peel, ash, roast, cocoa, and even the faintest hint of fresh coffee beans starts nibbling the tongue in the tail end. There's a lot going on, but unfortunately the intensity of the ash and bitterness kind of masks much of it.

I was digging it at first, but this is a beer that really wears down the palate quickly. Quite a bit of astringent roast and ashy char that picks away at your taste buds until there's nothing left. Bitter finish with a medium body, resinous and sticky mouth feel that seems a bit oily, too. Strange brew overall, with surprisingly well hidden alcohol... I had no idea this was in the double digits.

The black ale is decent enough, though for me, black IPA's are a very touchy style. Easily hit or miss, though this is one of the few that falls in between. It's far from bad, but the palate wrecking that happens sooner than halfway through the glass is enough to bog down the drinkability like a two ton weight. This would be perfect in 4-6 oz. serving sizes. Anything more is tough.

Mmmm, Clown Shoes. Remember when a lot of their stuff was new in Chicago, and it was fun to try bomber after bomber. Unfortunately, it's so widely available now, I don't ever buy it. I remember Hoppy Feet being good, so had to pick this one up. Unfortunately bottled 4 months ago, so this will be a different beer I assume.

A - sacrilegiously poured into a hefeweizen glass because nothing else is available, and I'll be damned if I pull out of the bottle. Pours an extremely dark brown just short of black. Head is nice and fluffy, tan, and settles to half a finger with great lacing.

S - wow there's a lot here. Sweet malts, some dark chocolate, something else very sweet that I can't put my finger on, a little earthiness. A very little hop in there but it definitely takes a backseat to everything else. Definitely can smell the booze on this big 10%er. Would have loved to get this fresh - wonder how it's changed.

T - Seems to follow the nose a lot. Sweet raisin and bready malt backbone leads to a little oakiness (?) followed by the expected bitterness that lingers around on the back of the tongue. The alcohol burn is certainly present and sticks around as well, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Again, missing the fresh hops, but still good.

M - lighter and silkier than it looks, although still medium and full, if that makes any sense whatsoever. The burn at the tail end is warming and nice for a December night.

O - a great-looking beer that is complex in both nose and taste. Definitely a nice sipper for a winter night. Would love to get a fresh bottle.